As we reflect on NAOCC accomplishments in 2025, we’re celebrating the progress we and NAOCC collaborators have made for orchids — from completing the manuscript for a new field guide to the orchids of the US and Canada, and reaching over 2400 children through Orchids in the Classroom (Classroom Cultivation) to launching the first propagation trials with terrestrial and epiphytic species in the Native Orchid Propagation for Sustainability (NOPS) project, and adding 275 leaf, root, and seed specimens to our growing research collection and database.

Here's a look at some numbers:

Education / Outreach:

• Orchids in the Classroom / Classroom Cultivation: 2400+ student participants and 30 teachers at 28 schools in 2025

• Presentations, talks, & poster sessions: Melissa, Dennis, and Julianne presented to audiences totaling over 925 people during 2025, adding to a grand total of reaching 11,350 since 2013 with the message about the urgency of orchid research and conservation

• Chelsea Flower Show: participation in a collaborative orchid conservation exhibit with North American and international collaborators reached 150,000 people in 2025 (600,000 since the exhibit, and NAOCC’s participation began in 2022)

• Thanks to the collections project, we have so far sequenced 1809 fungi from 1536 roots of 100 orchid species (there are ~230 species in North America north of Mexico, not including subspecies or varieties).

• 1319 total living fungal cultures in bank.